Why do the unsolved problems of maths matter?
To commemorate the occasion and provide a suitable launch for mathematics into a new century and a new millennium, one hundred years later, the newly-formed Clay Mathematics Institute (CMI) of Cambridge, MA, devised its own list of old nuts that have yet to be cracked and formally announced it at the Collège de France in Paris on 24 May 2000 in a lecture entitled “The Importance of Mathematics”. While to some the latter might sound like an obvious oxymoron, there are some circumstances surrounding this list of problems which indicate that this is not just mathematics for mathematics’ sake. For one, the founder and sponsor of the CMI is not himself a mathematician, nor did he read maths at university. Landon T Clay is a Boston businessman who believes maths research is underfunded and would like to see a wider dissemination of mathematical knowledge. Then, there is also the attractive price tag of $1,000,000 attached to each of the seven problems to be won by the first person to demonst
